This wasn't Grignon's typical route to work. He was a senior engineer at Apple in Cupertino, the town just west of Campbell. His morning drive typically covered seven miles and took exactly 15 minutes. But today was different. He was going to watch his boss, Steve Jobs, make history at the Macworld trade show in San Francisco. Apple fans had for years begged Jobs to put a cellphone inside their iPods so they could stop carrying two devices in their pockets. Jobs was about to fulfill that wish. Grignon and some colleagues would spend the night at a nearby hotel, and around 10 a.m. the following day they - along with the rest of the world - would watch Jobs unveil the first iPhone.

I honestly wonder (and this is from someone who passionately hated Microsoft's behaviour during the late nineties, early noughties) whether Bill Gates will be seen as far more historically important by the time we hit the end of the century.

Bill Gates will probably be revered. Steve Jobs will probably be remembered as some guy who briefly worked with Steve Wozniak.

Bill Gates will probably be revered. Steve Jobs will probably be remembered as some guy who briefly worked with Steve Wozniak.

Whatever. Every last one of you would be using technology far less sophisticated and well-designed now if it wasn't for Steve Jobs and his ranting personality. He didn't accept that certain things couldn't be done. He didn't accept that his company couldn't complete this task. He wasn't afraid to tell someone they can do better. Finally, he had enough business sense to fund all this stuff in the marketplace, not in a lab.

Where are the stories of Samsung or Nokia or Motorola holing up 1000 high-salary engineers for 2.5 years to design completely new products?

Apple isn't a fashion company, but it's the first computer company to acknowledge that fashion, when applied to tech, is called design, and without good design you have a nerdy box of nerd stuff that only nerds can use. Nerds are cool, I guess I am one, but there will always be more non-nerds than nerds based on the definition of a nerd.

For some reason Apple seems to be the only tech company that looks at well designed items from the past for inspiration. There is a lot of 20th century camera, watch, aviation, and even firearm technology in Apple's mobiles.

Everyone else is about the new box with new specs - replaceable tech. Purchase Purchase Purchase new stuff! Once you've bought? Please buy a new one. Not much support on that old one. That old one is OLD haha!

Tomorrow I'm finally upgrading a 3G from 2008 to a 5C. That 3G has been to the Apple store for a (free) checkup once in 5 years.

So much Apple jealousy that manifests as hate, but the market is wide open to build better devices and treat customers better than Apple does. Look at Samsung - they can rip off the designs, they can build almost as good as Apple, yet their support and product lifecycles don't get close. My friends will burn through 5 Samsungs in the time I use 1 iPhone - probably good for Samsung's bottom line, but not good for much else.

--

Re: Bill Gates verse Steve Jobs. You can't attack Jobs & Apple for 'copying and improving' while still giving credit to Bill Gates' Microsoft. They built their entire empire on a completed QDOS that they bought for $50k and then licensed to IBM. Killer business move but not much in the way of engineering prowess. Windows itself was a direct reaction to not being able to get into Apple's new Mac OS (Apple contracted them for apps only, no OS work, and MS immediately launched the Windows project). What are the amazing engineering feets by Microsoft? Where did they push the industry forward? When did something come out of their labs (not purchased) that changed the world?

Every last one of you would be using technology far less sophisticated and well-designed now if it wasn't for Steve Jobs and his ranting personality. He didn't accept that certain things couldn't be done. He didn't accept that his company couldn't complete this task. He wasn't afraid to tell someone they can do better. Finally, he had enough business sense to fund all this stuff in the marketplace, not in a lab.

Akio Morita was doing this at Sony long before Steve Jobs was born.

Where are the stories of Samsung or Nokia or Motorola holing up 1000 high-salary engineers for 2.5 years to design completely new products?

Nokia and Samsung did have thousands of engineers developing new products - they just didn't boast about it. Apple products use Samsung memory, screens and processors.

Apple isn't a fashion company, but it's the first computer company to acknowledge that fashion, when applied to tech, is called design, and without good design you have a nerdy box of nerd stuff that only nerds can use. Nerds are cool, I guess I am one, but there will always be more non-nerds than nerds based on the definition of a nerd.

More BS. Many companies were combining tech and excellent design long before Apple even existed - Fender, Braun, Sony, Panasonic, Philips and Bose spring to mind.

For some reason Apple seems to be the only tech company that looks at well designed items from the past for inspiration. There is a lot of 20th century camera, watch, aviation, and even firearm technology in Apple's mobiles.

More crap. Have a look at all he retro cameras and retro digital radios on the market.

Everyone else is about the new box with new specs - replaceable tech. Purchase Purchase Purchase new stuff! Once you've bought? Please buy a new one. Not much support on that old one. That old one is OLD haha!

How is Apple different?

Tomorrow I'm finally upgrading a 3G from 2008 to a 5C. That 3G has been to the Apple store for a (free) checkup once in 5 years.

If you want to pay a lot of money for a 12 month old phone go ahead.

So much Apple jealousy that manifests as hate, but the market is wide open to build better devices and treat customers better than Apple does.

Sensible people don't fall for Apple hype.

Look at Samsung - they can rip off the designs, they can build almost as good as Apple, yet their support and product lifecycles don't get close. My friends will burn through 5 Samsungs in the time I use 1 iPhone - probably good for Samsung's bottom line, but not good for much else.

Your'e iPhone has a SAMSUNG CPU. It is made in China by Foxconn. How is it vastly superior?

--

Re: Bill Gates verse Steve Jobs. You can't attack Jobs & Apple for 'copying and improving' while still giving credit to Bill Gates' Microsoft. They built their entire empire on a completed QDOS that they bought for $50k and then licensed to IBM. Killer business move but not much in the way of engineering prowess. Windows itself was a direct reaction to not being able to get into Apple's new Mac OS (Apple contracted them for apps only, no OS work, and MS immediately launched the Windows project). What are the amazing engineering feets by Microsoft? Where did they push the industry forward? When did something come out of their labs (not purchased) that changed the world?

There are actually plenty of decent examples of Microsoft releasing solid innovative products and doing reasonable computer science. Products which appeal to my taste? Not usually. The first two Xboxen were pretty great, Windows 7. ClearType, F#, LINQ, the last few Office releases (excepting bloody Outlook) have been highly usable and pretty solid. And MS peripheral hardware is usually excellent.

But, my original comment was about the men themselves, and the way they are perceived now and in the future. The Good Wife had a nice vignette which captured this; (TGW is a terrific legal procedural which covers some pretty in-depth tech and IP law issues, remarkable for a US mainstream drama) A tinpot-dictatorial character is acting in an abrupt and boorish manner, and it's revealed his behaviour is due to him "reading the Jobs biography".

Essentially, Jobs was an inspirational and skilled Product Manager. Not unique, not unprecedented and not very nice. Let's just try for some perspective, eh?